The State of Indiana remains open for business and recreation today thanks to the new budget passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels late last evening. The two-year, $28.5 billion budget has several plums for the region, including $14 million to complete levee work on the Little Calumet River and $3 million to begin planning a $400 million teaching and trauma hospital in Gary, IN. The budget also calls for a Nov. 3 referendum in Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph counties to decide whether to create a regional transit authority, which would fund a variety of train and bus projects through an 0.25 percent income tax. Finally, a clause in the new budget addresses Porter County’s recent attempts to withdraw from the Regional Development Authority. That decision can now be overridden by any two Porter County municipalities that wish to remain in the RDA.

In other news, a Hammond judge dismissed a request by an environmental group for an injunction to halt work on BP’s Whiting refinery expansion, and the City of Gary is seeking $25 million to demolish more than 1,100 vacant homes and businesses in Gary.

Nationally, a new report says that the U.S. private sector shed 473,000 jobs in June, after cutting 485,000 in May. The number of June cuts was larger than expected and dismayed those looking for evidence of an economic recovery. The jobless rate in Northwest Indiana topped 10 percent in May.